Abstract
Tapered semiconductor laser amplifiers have been one of the most successful approaches for producing high optical power in a diffraction limited beam [1-4]. Until now, this work has been done using anti-reflection coated normal incidence laser facets. In this paper, we report on the use of angle-facet tapered laser amplifiers to produce multi-watts of optical power in a near ideal diffraction-limited beam. Previous work on tapered angled facet amplifiers [5] has been geared toward low power operation. When combined with a dissipating grid on the unpumped region of the amplifier, the angled-facet structure leads to several new advantages for high power applications. These include: (i) a reduction of the effective reflectivity which results in less gain competition with the forward propagating signal, (ii) a reduction of filamentation formation, and (iii) a reduction of the reflected amplified signal at the input facet, which increases the catastrophic optical damage threshold. Angled facets can also be used in combination with anti-reflection coatings, easing the stringent requirements on the anti-reflection coating.
© 1995 Optical Society of America
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